Top 5 Things I Learned in Long Beach

Wil and I have been on the road traveling to numerous events and helping with certifications and seminars all over the place in the past few months, and after what seemed to be our 100th trip out of Bloomington I wanted to share what we learned this past weekend.

First let me start by telling you where we were and what we were doing.  Wil and I traveled with Pat Rigsby and Nick Berry, the owners of the IYCA and Athletic Revolution to Long Beach, CA for the Perform Better Functional Training Summit.  This is honestly the best conference in the industry and we were lucky to be able to attend and speak with many of the awesome presenters.

It is a wierd feeling when you can share a beer and meal, thats right I said a beer, we fitness professionals aren’t perfect all of the time, with your mentors and some icons in the industry.

Here are the top 5 things that I came away with from Long Beach.

1) We need to simplify our nutrition and eat better quality foods.  It is very easy to get caught up in planning out your nutrition and figuring out the exact number of carbohydrates you need at 3:34pm on a Tuesday after you have perfromed deadlifts and dumbbell bench presses the day before.

Our nutrition needs to be taken back to the basics.  The first thing we should do is aviod grains as if you have a deadly allergy to them.  Mike Boyle, of Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning, stated it best when he said, “grains make you break out in lumps all over your body, but most prevelant in your belly and butt!”  Very true, and don’t forget that corn is a grain and also the largest source of calories in a typical American diet.  Watch out for the deadly high fructose corn syrup.

We should stick to eating lean proteins, vegetables and fruits.  Eat these things 4-5 times per day keeping the calories in the 300-500 calorie per time range.  This will get most of us very lean and help get rid of those pesky lumps that make your jeans tighter and that hang over your belt line!

2) Sometimes we need a gut check!  Many times we have to have a little “come to Jesus” workout for us to realize that we have been holding ourselves back in our training programs.  You ultimately have to be the final judge of how hard you are pushing yourself, but I can assure you that if you are working with us we will be picking it up a little bit to make you test your will power every single day at Force!

It is amazing the confidence and sense of accomplishment you have after you just finished a workout that you didn’t think you could possibly endure.  I even had a little “come to Jesus” workout while I was in California that Martin Rooney took us through.  Some of the most unbelievable push up variations and core work that you could imagine.  I know that Coach Dos crushed Wil in a session and there were many more opportunities for us.

3) You time in the gym should be the best part of your day.  And no I am not talking about any gym, I am talking about your time at Force.  We have a new mission: To make the minutes and hours that you are at Force the best part of your day!  This is aside from us kicking your butt and having you smile at the end!    If you aren’t having a great time you need to let us know so that we can fix the problem and make it an unforgettable experience.

4)  Being around the best people in the world at what you do makes you better.  This is a little more helpful for me that it is you.  Having the chance and opportunity to network and connect with the best in the world is amazing.  It really helps Wil and I grow, and it helps us be better at what we do: getting you the results you want!

This also goes for you!  If you surround yourself with great people like the other members of the Force family you will have no choice but to succeed.  The social support that is provided and the benefits that come from having such a great support system are priceless.

5) As much as we want to push you and give you cool new exercises to perform, sometimes we need to step back to the basics and relearn the right way to do things.  This is especially true when dealing with an injury or other condition that might hinder us.  You can make great progress by simply busting your butt with a few simple exercises and following the usualy progressions.  It all comes down to how hard you work at each of the simple movements.  There is always a way to make it more difficult or advance to the next level.

Some very simple thing like relearning a breathing pattern can make a big difference in your strengtha and progress.  If you are breathing incorrectly you are missing the most basic component of life, let alone training.  Next time you are breathing hard, check to see if you are breathing into your chest or your belly.  You should be breathing into your belly with deep belly breaths.

If you are having trouble with this you can shoot me an email or leave a comment and I will do my best to help you!

Those are the top 5 things that I learned in Long Beach.  Truth be told, I feel like I had a few more and possibly some better ones early in the day but I forgot to write them down so I might have forgot.  If I can come up with any more I will be sure to fill you in.